Since the old 2Ls Taking questions thread seems to have died off I thought it was about time to start a new thread, especially since UChicago ED decisions can't be more than a few weeks away, and you RD folks will start hearing not too long after that.

Hopefully some of the other 1Ls (and 2 & 3Ls) will chime in too.

Ask away.

Last edited by Emma. on Mon Jun 15, 2015 12:07 pm, edited 15 times in total.

Overall how would you discribe the atmosphere of UChi Law? Everyone says that the student body is stern and academic, have you found that to be true? What made you choose Chicago over the peer schools?

Wade LeBosh wrote:Overall how would you discribe the atmosphere of UChi Law? Everyone says that the student body is stern and academic, have you found that to be true? What made you choose Chicago over the peer schools?

It is probably a bad time for me to be answering this question, the day before our first final. Everyone a little stern at this point.

On the whole though I find my class to be really amazing. I thought 200 would feel like a really small class but looking around at orientation it really felt like there were a lot of us. I can't imagine going to a school with a class twice (or more than twice at some schools) our size. People are generally pretty social, funny, and kind, at least in our 1L class. There have been a lot of social events even right up into the reading period for exams. Everyone is pretty stressed out now, but it is great having the Green Lounge to go and hang out, drink a cup of coffee, and just chill out and not think about schoolwork for a bit. There is always someone down there to hang out with. Today they actually have chair massages to de-stress everyone before exams start.

A lot of our class have been involved in IM sports leagues, Bar Review has been really well attended, and there are a lot of house parties. Hyde Park is definitely lacking in great bars and restaurants but people have been doing a good job at finding ways to make their own fun. Is everyone crazily smart? Yeah, it seems so. Stern? Not so much.

My decision to chose Chicago was pretty complicated. I definitely had some personal factors that led me to end up here over other schools, but overall it was things like the small class size, the incredible faculty, the building and facilities, and the fact that Chicago is a really cool town. PM me if you have any more specific questions!

Up until a couple weeks before exams I was managing to get most of my work done at school in a 8-4 schedule during the week, and that would usually include a pretty long lunchbreak. I like to read ahead a little in the weekends, so I was usually working either that same kind of 8 hour schedule one day of the weekend or doing 2 afternoons of work. When our memo was due that definitely took some extra time, and every once and a while I'd end up needing to work a few hours the evening. I think if you keep disciplines while you are studying (unlike what I'm doing now) then a lot of the quarter you can treat school as a 9-5. Of course first quarter is our easiest one, and I'm sure in the spring with an open brief, oral arguments, and 4 exams to prepare for I will be at school a lot longer hours.

I live in Hyde Park and I haven't once felt personally unsafe since I have lived here. I really think the danger aspect is overblown. I wouldn't walk around too much on my own after dark, especially if I had my computer or other valuables with me, but I don't have a problem walking home from the bus or the train at night. There have been a few (maybe 3) undergrad muggings around the periphery of the campus area since school started (we get security update emails) so school has stepped up the security presence, and they are constantly working on improving campus security. I'm pretty sure each time it was someone wandering around after dark on their own.

Can you tell us about LRW? I read that there are only 3 grades given; how does that work?

Do you live in Regents, and is it more difficult to meet or hang out with your classmates if you live elsewhere? How much do you pay for rent (if you don't mind me asking)?

I think LRW used to have just 3 grades with most people getting median, but this year they have opened up the full range of grading. We're graded on a curve just like any other class. LRW is taught in our small sections by a Bigelow Fellow. The Bigelows all seem pretty great, they are all here on 2 year fellowships and working towards getting onto the teaching market. We don't meet that often, just a few times every quarter. Each quarter there is an assignment but the first quarter is ungraded. So our grade depends on an open memo in the winter quarter and an open brief in the spring. I actually like LRW pretty well so far, and having an ungraded and closed memo was definitely a nice way to ease in. I'm sure I'll be hating it in the spring though.

I don't live in Regents but I'm close by. I have a really great 1,100sqft 2brm apartment (brand new, doorman, good views, nice kitchen and bathrooms) and pay around $1400. There are definitely a lot of social activities around HP that you might miss out on if you chose to live up north, but the flipside is that if you live up north you definitely have access to a much better selection of bars and restaurants. I would definitely recommend HP for 1L and then consider moving up north after that. It sounds like a lot of our class will be moving at least to the South Loop, and many further north than that for 2L and 3L years.

St.Remy wrote:How did you find yourself at UChicago Law? First choice, best option, scholarship $, liked the feel, something else, a combination?

I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think it was my best option, but "best option" for me meant weighing a lot of different factors.

I was lucky enough to have really amazing options for school, and choosing was really difficult. I visited a couple of other peer schools and had mixed results. One school I liked but my SO hated the town. One school (the one I thought was going to be my first choice) I just wasn't feeling on my visit. UChi blew me away when I visited, and that was a huge part of the decision.

Ultimately I think I was in a no-lose situation as far as my options, any one of them would have been a great school, so I had to go with my gut and chose the place where I thought I would be happiest overall. Of course I have no way of knowing what those other schools would have been like, but I have never regretted my decision to come here.

Now back to waiting until February to see if all of my questions are pointless or not!

Good luck. You never know, there might be some decisions before Feb!

There are definitely cheaper options for apartments than mine. Regents is pretty nice and is a couple hundred dollars cheaper I think, but I like being in a smaller building. There's also plenty of places around HP that are cheaper than Regents.

For fellows and faculty, I get the advantages of research centers. For law students, are they potentially beneficial, if students are interested in an area that overlaps with a center's mission? Are there opportunities to work with and within them in a meaningful way?

For fellows and faculty, I get the advantages of research centers. For law students, are they potentially beneficial, if students are interested in an area that overlaps with a center's mission? Are there opportunities to work with and within them in a meaningful way?

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As a 1L I can't really speak to this. I don't really know what the opportunities are, but I'd be really surprised if there aren't some opportunities for students at the research centers.

eskimo wrote:Okay, thought of another one - car or no car? Worth it to bring one?

I have one but I don't drive it much. It is pretty nice to have though. It is really easy to drive to South Loop to go to WholeFoods or the bigbox stores there, but kind of a pain on public transport. I usually ride the bus but during exam time I'll bus to school in the morning, bus home for dinner, and then drive back to school at night. The school lot (directly behind the building) is free to park in after 4pm.

There are definitely people in my class who drive every day. If you don't mind getting to school early there is free parking on the Midway. I guess you have to get here before 8 to get those spots though.

Edit: It sounds like there's a good chance the law school will get UPass next year, which will mean unlimited free rides on all the CTA buses and trains. Right now all we have is free buses around Hyde Park.

Last edited by Emma. on Wed Dec 08, 2010 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

tkgrrett wrote:1) Obviously, I dont have this choice but just to get your perspective... Full ride at UChicago (leaving COA of ~69k) vs. ~29k grant at H/S (leaving COA of ~123k). Which one would you take and why??

2) Do most students plan on keeping their apartments in Chicago over the summer or do they try to find 9 month leases?

3) How often do you, or if you arent social your typical classmate, go away from the Hyde Park area to hangout?

1) Wow, this would be tough. I guess it would depend where you wanted to be, what you wanted to do, what you thought of each place when you visited. For me, the full ride would be very difficult to turn down, but of course H & S are H & S. I wouldn't discount the importance of ending up in the place you actually like the most, rather than just making assumptions about which school is better ranked. Obviously if you are coming to Chi on a full ride you are going to do well and have plenty of job options. If you wanted to go into politics or something though I think it would be crazy to turn town Harvard.

2) I think most students keep their apartments. Last year something like 50% of the 1L class ended up with summer jobs in the Chicago area.

3) Before exam time I was trying to make sure I left HP at least once a week. It really isn't that hard to get away but it is easy to forget that too. Of all the public transport options I like the Metra the best, around 15 minutes and you are in the heart of downtown. If you are out drinking up north usually there'll usually be people who want to split cab rides rather than dealing with public transport at 2am, and cabs are around $25 - $30 depending on how far north you are.

trudat15 wrote:How much is parking, or do you have a spot in your apt complex?

How accessible do you find the professors?

I have a spot at my apartment but there is free street parking around HP as well. It would be kind of a pain in the ass to always have to park on the street though.

The professors are incredible. I've been out to lunch with my Ks prof and breakfast with another of my professors. Our CivPro I prof invited the entire class to her house for breakfast a couple weeks ago. I don't really go to office hours, but I know that all of my professors have a pretty liberal open door policy and are happy to help you work through any issues with the material. They usually hang around after class to answer questions as well.

trudat15 wrote:Thanks for taking the time. Really appreciate it. I'm sure I'll have many more questions next week when EDers hear back (or I'll abandon this thread altogether and curse UChi with a passion).

No worries.

Reading over my answers, though, it seems like a week spent mostly in the library, capped off by a day with too much coffee and not enough real food, has ruined my command of the English language.